The path to Tier Three, the thirty-fourth trial.

The thirty-fourth trial was not the scenic southern river town of the thirty-sixth, but a vast desert.

Qing Xixi was the one standing guard here.

Gales howled, kicking up clouds of yellow sand that blotted out the sky. Tornadoes periodically spun into existence, roaring and shaking the dunes.

For a Wind Dao Practitioner like her, such a unique environment was an ideal battleground.

Fighting here, Qing Xixi was confident her combat prowess would increase by at least thirty percent.

But...

"Techniques exist to kill."

Su Xi gently wiped the blood from her three-foot Copper Coin Sword, leaving Qing Xixi with nothing but the sight of her arrogant back.

At that moment, Qing Xixi’s expression was dazed.

She hadn’t even realized how she had been defeated.

She knew that Su Xi had just launched a Soul Attack, severing her Spiritual Sense. The attack had caused her own soul to grow unstable within her body, which was why she had been so easily defeated.

And yet, she had been prepared for just such an attack.

Meanwhile, on a distant cliff.

The crowd gazed at Su Xi’s ethereal figure, their voices filled with admiration.

"With a single move! A single move!"

"Whether it was Zhang Tiansheng, renowned for his physical might, or Yu Yihao, famous for his deep reserves of True Essence, neither could withstand more than a single move from Su Xi."

"Indeed. And who would have thought she could then go on to defeat Qing Xixi with her sword?"

"Heh, Su Xi is a renowned Sword Cultivator from the Daoist Mansion of Eternal Life. There’s no telling how many demons she’s slain with her Demon-slaying Sword technique. She’s even earned the nickname ’the Little Sword Immortal’!"

"It’s outrageous. If it weren’t for the special nature of this long path, I’m afraid Zhang Tiansheng, Yu Yihao, Qing Xixi, and the others would have been killed by a single slash of her sword..."

They had originally thought Fang Yang was a talent seen once in a millennium, but they never expected Su Xi to be just as formidable.

As they spoke, Su Xi’s sword shattered Sen Cangba’s ultimate move, Hellhound Devours the Moon, causing Sen Cangba to doubt himself.

The crowd grew even more astonished at the sight.

It was because Su Xi’s bloodlust was far beyond that of an ordinary person. She was a natural-born killer!

In just four hours, she had cleared thirty-five trials in a row. Her momentum was even greater than the Desert Dragon’s had been. It seemed Fang Yang had truly met his match.

...

With all eyes on her, Su Xi charged into the thirty-sixth trial to face Fang Yang head-on.

A moment later, a deafening roar shook the thirty-sixth trial. The small town trembled as if struck by an earthquake, its cottages shattering one by one.

Sensing the disturbance, Fang Yang’s gaze grew profound. The war spear in his hand began to crackle with brilliant lightning.

BOOM!

An aura, blazing to its absolute limit, erupted forth, making the very void tremble.

Su Xi, looking every bit the legendary White-clothed Sword Immortal, descended for the kill. The Demon-Suppressing Nine Prison Pagoda hovered above her head, she wielded the three-foot Copper Coin Sword, and she moved with the Eight Trigrams Qiankun Step. Her divine might surged, as if she were manifesting the primal forces of Earth Flame, water, and wind to utterly crush her foe.

The display was so shocking that the raging storm seemed to pause, and the very air grew still.

No one had expected Su Xi to unleash her ultimate attacks the moment they met, holding absolutely nothing back.

The scene left Fang Lanxi and the other spectators utterly stunned; it was far too incredible.

A grave expression crossed Fang Yang’s face. As his eyes glinted, his war spear hummed, its aura surging to the heavens like a tsunami. The Golden Tai Chi Diagram shot out to meet the attack.

RUMBLE—

A series of explosions rang out. Billowing clouds of white smoke and gray mist made it impossible to see Fang Yang and Su Xi clearly.

But in the void, one white and one crimson figure—like a divine ape leaping, a Flood Dragon bursting from the sea, an eagle striking across the sky—moved with the speed of lightning. They clashed hundreds, thousands of times in an instant, constantly colliding with tremendous force.

With every collision, Su Xi grew more astonished.

Gradually, the last of her contempt vanished, and she began to take Fang Yang seriously.

Su Xi commanded her sword to summon thunder. Lightning crackled around her as, one after another, ferocious lightning-sparrows lunged forth.

Using the Eight Trigrams Qiankun Step, she swung her longsword, unleashing torrents of sharp Sword Aura to bombard Fang Yang!

Her every move generated a terrifying momentum, leaving the spectators in awe.

However, Fang Yang’s expression remained calm as he closed the distance. He pressed his attack, step by step, and forced Su Xi into a retreat.

This outcome was completely beyond Su Xi’s expectations.

HUM...

The void trembled. Su Xi thrust her copper sword straight forward, completely disregarding her own safety, hoping to trade an injury for a kill.

At the tip of her copper sword, its sharpness condensed into a single point of cold light. The point pulsed from brilliant to dim, then from dim back to brilliant, releasing a pure white divine radiance. This was a qualitative transformation of her power.

It was impossibly fast, with no room for retreat.

Seeing this, Fang Yang merely turned his body slightly before bringing his spear down, completely unfazed by Su Xi.

They clashed in an instant, and both their bodies were stained with blood.

The next moment, they charged and fought again.

But such ferocity could not be sustained. The consequence of Su Xi unleashing all her ultimate techniques at once and failing to defeat Fang Yang was that once he weathered the initial hardship, the fight became progressively easier for him.

"It’s over now. Ah..." Among the spectators, Su Dao let out a sigh.

And just as he predicted.

A massive Golden Tai Chi Diagram once again materialized beneath Fang Yang’s feet.

With a thunderous boom, golden waves surged toward the heavens. The phantom of a black Giant Kun emerged from the center of the Golden Tai Chi Diagram and, like a leaping carp, shot straight at Su Xi.

Su Xi gritted her teeth and tried to fight back, only to realize that the Primordial Qi in her body was nearly depleted.

She could only hastily activate the Demon-Suppressing Nine Prison Pagoda, calling down streams of gray energy to form a shield around herself.

But it was useless!

With unstoppable force, the black Giant Kun’s phantom shattered the Demon-Suppressing Nine Prison Pagoda’s barrier and ruthlessly slammed into Su Xi.

The immense impact sent Su Xi flying like a broken ragdoll, and she crashed to the ground, blood pooling beneath her.

Su Xi’s face was ashen, her eyes dim. ’I... I actually lost to a greenhorn like Fang Yang?’

But that was the reality of it.

In fact, if not for the healing intervention of the Cyan Divine Light, she would have been killed outright by Fang Yang!

This scene left the crowd of spectators horrified and speechless.

"I never thought that even someone like the ’Little Sword Immortal’ Su Xi couldn’t last long against Fang Yang."

"Hiss... Fang Yang is terrifying. If he really becomes the First Martial King, he’ll absolutely deserve to be called a young Great Saint!"

"Damn, the bookies have already locked the bets. Even if we could bet on Fang Yang to become the First Martial King, the odds would be pathetically low..."

At this moment, the crowd was buzzing with discussion.

Every word spoken was filled with reverence for Fang Yang.

"Hah..."

Su Dao took a deep breath, managing to restrain himself.

Even though his sister had been crushed by Fang Yang, he had no intention of personally stepping in to deal with him.

It was because he stubbornly believed that his true opponent was Sen Yue!

King faces king, general faces general. If he were to act against Fang Yang now, it would be utterly beneath him.

「Elsewhere.」

On the streets of the main city.

Sen Hui stared at the water mirror screen before her, a look of lingering fear on her face.

The battle just now had been too perilous; no one could have imagined Su Xi would be so vicious.

They were both human Cultivators, yet Su Xi hadn’t said a single word before unleashing her ultimate moves.

Seeing her sister’s expression, Sen Wei gave a helpless smile. "You don’t need to worry about Fang Yang. Just trust me, okay?"

"Mm-hm," Sen Hui agreed absently.

She put away the water mirror screen, her steps becoming much lighter as she followed her sister to pay a New Year’s visit to the next elder of the Sen clan.